ʻAtenisi Institute

In 1966 Helu registered ʻAtenisi's high school with the government and at the end of that year leased a 6.5-hectare (16-acre) parcel in Tufuenga, a western district in the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa.

The disadvantage was that the university rarely received funding from either of the aforementioned sources, which usually condemned it to an austere budget solely supported by modest tuition fees.

Because of its reputation for rigour, most ʻAtenisi University students found it relatively easy to obtain scholarships to graduate schools in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.

In the early years of the university, its emphasis on philosophy was popular with Tonga's independent farmers: their sons might return to their modest plantations and display classical learning at weekend faikava (traditional kava circles).

Yet with growing pressure for vocational success among Tonga's urban middle class, only the most talented students remain attracted to ʻAtenisi's classical credo.

This has led to a decline in enrollment which, in the face of increasingly more viable tertiary training in Tonga and overseas, limits the small university that Futa Helu built.

[1] ʻOpeti Taliai, a Tongan anthropologist who holds a PhD from Massey University as well as an ʻAtenisi undergraduate degree, served as dean from 2013 to 2014; he had previously taught linguistics at the institute.

In August the university was promptly awarded a two-year extension of its registration, whilst New Zealand Aid is currently considering extending tuition assistance to its undergraduates.